​​How do you know what to say when a client answers your question? Most of the time you did not know what your client was going to say. That was why you asked the question.Knowing what to do next at that precise moment has a great deal to do with paying attention to language. And what we say will depend on our assumptions.

Each answer that our client produces gives us an opportunity to believe in our client. We can show, for example, that we are taking them seriously. Our response - ‘that’s great’ or ‘OK then’ - needs to show that we believe in them, almost irrespective of our particular choice of words.

The client’s words have suggested a possibility that means something for them. We are asking our questions with a professional belief that these questions of ours can be enough to prompt change in the person who answers them.

In other words, we know that the magic is not in identifying someone’s problem and knowing the best way to fix it (which it is our duty to carefully explain to them).

The magic is in the creation of the clients' confidence in their own abilities to achieve their own desires.

So all you need to do to come up with the right next question is maintain that assumption, while listening carefully to what your client is saying.